Not sure if it is anxiety

[crasher83]

I'll try to keep this short but I've always felt like I have anxiety and have had attacks before but dealt with it in the past. After splitting with my ex the past few months I've been really bad with anxiety and have a number of physical symptoms now which ruin me. Can I just make sure these are all symptoms:
Occasional pain in left shoulder blade but I thought it got worse after a night on beer.
Right side pain just below ribs which sometimes also grumbles after meals if I haven't eaten for ages.
Poor appetite and loss of.
Tiredness but can't sleep.
Sweating.
Nausea.
Dry mouth.
Frequent urination.

These symptoms come and go and arent all at once sometimes but today I was worried about something and I got stabbing pains in left shoulder blade and sweating. Really annoying me and can't seem to shake it as when I get pains I get anxiety so it goes hand in hand, just worried it isn't just anxiety but thing is I've had liver blood test, MRI scan, heart monitor for 24hr, ultrasound around organs liver, gall bladder, stomach and kidneys, etc. Plus also even had an Xray on chest area and all came back fine so what could it be? Just can't stop worrying about it and that causes anxiety. Making me not want to go put drinking etc cos think it may be beer related or liver trouble even though I've had these tests.

[dazza]

Seems like your once manageable anxiety has turned nasty and is now pushing the big, red fight or flight button, in turn unleashing a beastly mixture of physical symptoms that have you believing you've been injected with every virus known to man.

(All sounds pretty typical of fight or flight to me)

If the tests you've had are recent (within the last few months) then you can pretty much rest assure that nothing has changed since then.

I don't encourage you to google anxiety symptoms, but if you did you'd be both horrified and a little reassured to know of them. They're pretty much endless.

Left shoulder / arm / chest wall - VERY common amongst anxious folk.
Appetite - also VERY common. Can go either way... some eat until their shirt buttons fly off, others stop eating.
Tiredness - yep, fight or flight knocks the crap out of you.
Can't sleep - you know the answer...
Sweating - ditto
Nausea - yuppppp
Cotton mouth - aye
Pissing for England (or wherever you live) - yepppppppp!

FULL - HOUSE!

[Tristanayoubi]

Yup. 100% anxiety. These were the physical symptoms I started out with..
Then They evolved to the chest pain and numbness in left arms and stuff like that..

[crasher83]

Thanks guys, looks like my fight has just begun. The tests where because of the pains I was getting, got results 3 weeks ago. It's a horrible disorder and the doctor won't believe I have it I'm pretty sure he feels it's all made up. When I relax I feel ok but just can't relax. I go to the gym and weightlifting seems to help loads but once I'm back doing nothing I'm back to square 1. It all stems from watching my brother struggle with cancer at 13 and he sadly passed away at 15 when I was 13, haven't recovered and feel I need help, the ex helped a lot but we split because I didn't want to be a burden anymore

[jhunter89]

That's well sad :'(

[crasher83]

Just will have to shake it off and get past it hopefully.

[Enduronman]

S**t Crasher,..you aint gonna shake this off. It's already got a grip on you friend. From yer 1st post it seems it rooted deep as depression, quickly manifested as anxiety/hypochondria, with panic type symptoms to boot.. Take it from an anxiety veteran here, you gotta get this under YOUR control and fast or it'll eat you alive.

1. Family Dr. =meds for dep/anx/with panic
2. If BP is high get some beta-blockers
3. Get in touch with a therapist, Psych, councelor..ASAP! You gotta REMOVE AND DELETE those thoughts of yer X er whatever before they get embedded further into yer brain..

I know where ALL this will lead you, you dont wanna go there..It's way more painful then what you described above dude.

Enduronman..

[buckeyegirl]

Crasher83, So sorry you are going thru this now. If your doctor doesn't believe that you are seriously suffering from Anxiety it is time to see another doctor!!!! Find someone else who you can trust and who will listen to you. I had to change doctors in order to really start to come to terms with my anxiety issues. Find a doctor who will talk with you...not to you. Wishing you all the best.

[dazza]

Doctors generally can't be arsed with anxiety...

My last one laughed at me which initially pissed me off, but, well, I thought about it and kinda saw her point.

A dedicated therapist is what you need for anxiety, not a GP.
GP's will offer drugs but they don't have the time nor inclination to address your mental issues.

[falconlady]

I am SURE that you have anxiety!! I have every "symptom" that you have and have had all the same tests (except MRI). Guess what I have? anxiety! I agree that you need a therapist, my GP is pretty useless with this except he did give me meds for when I just can't calm down. A therapist won't be able to do that. If you look at the top of this forum there is a sticky that says CBT worksheets - I went to the website and printed them out and they have really helped. I hope you feel better